The White House issued an executive order establishing a new committee and review procedures for applications involving foreign investment.
Background: In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been planning to reform its review of foreign investment in telecommunications for some time. The previous FCC, chaired by Tom Wheeler under the Obama administration, issued a proposal in 2016 to streamline the process for reviewing applications and require applicants to provide information on ownership, network operations, and related matters. The FCC changed leadership at the end of that year, and the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was put on hold.
A new committee is created: On 4 April 2020, the White House issued an executive order which sets up the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector. The committee will primarily assist the FCC in its public interest review of national security and law enforcement concerns that may be raised by foreign participation in the US telecoms sector. It will recommend actions to the FCC as to whether an application should be dismissed or made subject to conditions, or whether an existing licence should be amended or revoked. The committee’s members will be the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General (who will be the chair), the Secretary of Homeland Security, and any others that the US President may designate.
The FCC will now conclude its own reform of the process: In a statement, the FCC chairman Ajit Pai welcomed the executive order, and noted that the FCC can now move forward with its own pending NPRM of 2016. Pai explicitly mentioned the rejection of China Mobile’s application of 2019 as an example of the FCC’s commitment to prioritise on national security – a sign that the tensions between US and China on national security and trade are likely to continue.
